Assessing Tablets' Adoption by ODL Learners: A Mauritian Case Study

Assessing Tablets’ Adoption by ODL Learners: A Mauritian Case Study Perienen Appavoo and Premanand Koonjal

Open University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

[email protected] and [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Mobile learning technologies have great potential

to transform the learning paradigm. The Open

University of Mauritius offers a free tablet to all

learners reading for a degree course. This paper

investigates the extent to which these tablets are

contributing to the learning experience of the

learners. Hundred and fifty learners studying in

different courses at the University agreed to

complete a questionnaire. Focus group

discussions were held with four groups of 4-5

learners in view of triangulating the data and

unveiling other details that could not be captured

in the questionnaires. Data analysis reveals that

learners, mostly working adults, are frequent users

of technology with many of them using the

computer for more than an hour daily; learning

being one of the common activities. Learners

demonstrate a positive perception of the

pedagogical worth of ICT. The major obstacles to

tablets use are also highlighted and include the

following: frequent breakdowns, small screen

size, slow processing power and short battery life.

Despite these obstacles, learners value the

flexibility tablets offer to learn anywhere, anytime

and at their own pace. This combination of

technology provision and perceived usefulness as

revealed in this paper shows that learners are well

poised to embrace tablet use in their learning.

Keywords

ODL, tablets, learning, technology, ICT.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The advent of computers has brought

innovative changes in various sectors of the

economy and has altered the way business is

being done including the educational sector,

which is also undergoing a lot of

transformations. Nowadays, students grow up

amidst technology from a tender age and their

learning expectations at school are high.

They are the ‘digital natives’ who mandate

the use of technology to complement their

learning activities, and if educators or

institutions do not bend to this trend, they will

miss a golden opportunity to address learning

demands with the new Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) tools

already flooding the market and making a

difference in other spheres of life. The present

‘grammar of school’ will thus keep the system

lagging behind and stagnating in the archaic

den. Today tertiary level education is

witnessing a tremendous boom, with Open

and Distance Learning (ODL) becoming a

preferred mode of study for many learners

who are opting for qualification upgrade

while keeping their jobs or doing some other

activities. There is definitely scope in the

delivery of courses through ICT tools, and

coupled with the affordability and portability

of tablets, this integration of technology in

learning holds a promising future. The

prevalence of ICTs and its far-reaching effects

can, therefore, have a profound impact on the

ways teaching and learning will evolve. At

the Open University of Mauritius (OU),

which is a young and fast growing university,

with a population of around 4000 students in

the last 2 years, the policy has been to

maximize on the affordances of ICT for the

effective delivery of course content, for

Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

interacting with and mastering the learning

content, and for learner support as well. In

this endeavour, more than 3000 tablets have

been distributed freely to all learners enrolled

on a degree course. Expectations are high, but

to what extent are these tablets fulfilling the

demands and needs of tutors and learners?

Has the integration been a smooth process or

are learners still struggling to make good use

of this tool? Success with mobile-learning

initiatives requires a close fit between the

instructional design of the learning content

and the affordances of technology. This

research study attempts to zoom in the

intricacies of this integration and bring to the

surface perceptions and even apprehensions

regarding the effective usage of tablets for

learning purposes.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Due to increasing longevity, extended age of

retirement, coupled with the need for ongoing

professional training in a dynamic labour

market, the focus on ODL as a mode of

learning and training is being accentuated

every year. Calvert [1] purports that ODL is

considered nowadays as the most

viable means for broadening educational

access while improving the quality of

education, advocating peer-to-peer

collaboration and giving learners a greater

sense of autonomy and responsibility

for learning. ODL favours ubiquitous learning

that can meet the needs of the emerging

digital learning society, providing in the same

breath greater learning opportunities to the

non-traditional student segment of the learner

population. Massive Open Online Courses

(MOOCs) offer high quality courses at

affordable cost to reach nearly every corner of

the globe, and a serious enabler of this

exciting venture is none other than technology

itself. Today there are flooding studies

purporting that technology is becoming a

strong driver of the educational process,

providing an abundance of learning

opportunities for a wide spectrum of learners

coming from all walks of life [2], [3], [4], [5].

Mobile learning is already a grounded

concept where learning takes place with the

help of a mobile/handheld device [6].

Hutchison et al. [7] found that iPads have

learning affordances to enhance engagement

and motivation, improve face-to-face and

online collaboration amongst students and

personalize learning while improving learning

outcomes. These gains were ascribed to the

features of the device, and to teachers’ ability

to differentiate instruction to cater for mixed-

ability groups, and the ease with which

learners could personalise their learning

experience. Moreover, Clarke and Svanaes [8]

reported that students described the main

benefits of a Tablet as having ‘everything in

one device’, which was felt to make it easier

to organise their learning. Tablets are also

bringing a new learning experience to adults.

To ensure that technology-based instructions

can benefit this category of learners, Wolfson,

et al. [9] report that such instructions must:

1. Be highly structured

2. Provide feedback and guidance

3. Include metacognitive prompts

4. Incorporate principle derived from

cognitive load theory and cognitive theory

of multimedia learning.

5. Include a user interface that is simple and

consistent throughout the course.

Tablets have been touted as “revolutionary

learning devices” holding huge potential to

reconstruct our educational system. A study

by Shuler [10] has revealed that 10% of the

650,000 applications (Apps) on Apple store

and 300,000 on the Android market have been

designed for educational purposes. He posits

that mobile Apps will unlock new avenues to

support the learning process. He does,

however, draw attention to the dearth of

research to back the educational worth of

these apps. In 2014, tablet ownership reached

350 million and this number is expected to


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treble by 2017, reaching 15% of the world

population [11]. By 2015, one third of the US

population will be iPads and other tablets

users, with a large majority involved in

learning activities, thus making these devices

the fastest growing technology in education

[12]. A new frontier is being crossed and the

trend is towards the concept of “Bring Your

Own Device (BYOD)”, where individuals

take their personal (usually mobile) devices to

workplaces or schools and university campus

[13].

Due to its affordability, portability and

functionalities, educationalists are nourishing

great hopes to see this device revolutionize

the educational world. There is a novelty

value in the introduction of tablets for

learning outcomes. Their viability as a

response tool to the emerging learning

demands of a digital society makes it a

compelling choice for many. The multi-touch

interface is probably the greatest draw of

tablets as compared to laptops. In 2011, South

Korea announced its $2.1 billion initiative to

transfer all of its school textbooks to digital

form by 2015 [14], with students accessing

their needed texts using tablet computers [15].

Using cloud computing, it is expected that

users would be able to access a database of all

digital textbooks and choose what they want

from their tablet PCs. Thailand has initiated

the world’s largest tablet experiment project

to provide One-Tablet-Per-Child (OTPC)

with the intention to deliver more than

800,000 tablets in schools [16]. Among the

developing countries, Kenya is at the top of

the league with the “Kids on the tab” project

instigated in 2012 [17]. It includes pre-loaded

materials in compliance with the school

curricula on a tablet given to students to assist

them in their learning activities as well as to

help them improve their e-literacy skills.

Furthermore, the free laptop project in Kenya

has been the largest such project in the

African continent with 400,000 laptops

distributed to first graders, while Rwanda has

already circulated around 200,000 laptops

[18]. In 2014, in its endeavour to transform

the island into an intelligent nation in the

vanguard of global process and innovation,

the Ministry of Education of Mauritius has

distributed some 26,000 tablets to secondary

school Form V students (age 15-16 years) and

teachers. A similar number has been

earmarked for distribution in 2015. At the

Open University of Mauritius, management

has initiated the swapping of traditional

learning materials for digital ones, thus

anticipating the future, whereby the global

surge of tablets will revolutionize the way

learning takes place. Investigating the

contribution of tablets in the context of ODL

has significant importance for Africa, which

has great potential to expand its e-learning

market [19]. Both the affordability and

portability of this tool line up with the

concepts of ODL which are grounded in

flexible delivery and learning, whereby the

latter takes place anywhere, anytime, -

seamless learning.

Today there is mounting pressure on school

administrators and teaching staff to embrace

technology for boosting learning performance

and addressing varying learning styles. But

how far are we from technology provision to

knowledge acquisition? Both the South

Korean and Thai projects have received

comments and critics worthy of our

consideration. We cannot afford to repeat the

same mistakes and carry false hopes. Despite

what numerous studies reveal about the

potentiality of tablets to educate, we must

caution “exaggerated trust” in digital

education and investigate if wireless

education means better quality. That

technology offers affordances for pedagogical

gain is beyond doubt; but how is the

integration implemented, remains the true

dilemma? This research study at the Open

University will bring to the front some key

findings of tablet usage by ODL learners,

which can fuel further research in this area


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and help guide the implementation of similar

projects, so that learning expectations do not

remain a disappointed dream.

2.1 Aims and Objectives

The aim of this research paper is to

investigate the extent of tablet usage for

learning benefits by ODL learners of the

Open University of Mauritius reading for a

degree program, following the policy of free

distribution of this device over the last two

years. The findings are expected to help

review or revisit this policy in order to

maximize on the much acclaimed attributes of

mobile technologies for learning.

The research objectives will be addressed in

the following four main questions:

1. What is the current usage of technology

by ODL learners at work and/or at home?

2. What is the current usage of tablets by

ODL learners for learning purposes?

3. How do ODL learners perceive the

pedagogical worth of ICT?

4. What are the most common barriers in

the successful integration of tablets for

learning?

3.0 METHODOLOGY

A mixed method approach, both quantitative

and qualitative in nature, was adopted in the

collection of data. A questionnaire comprising

52 items, was designed and distributed among

learners of the Open University. Thirty four

items, using a three-point Likert rating scale,

covered such aspects as learners’

demography, daily use of technology, the

types of activities most preferred, computer-

related learning activities, perceptions of the

pedagogical worth of tablets for learning, and

the barriers to the effective integration of

tablets in ODL. The Cronbach Alpha analysis

was carried out to validate the items testing a

particular construct. The option “frequent

use” for some of the items implied the device

was used for more than three times in a week,

and “moderate use”, 1-3 times per week. In

the initial stage, a pilot testing of the

questionnaire was carried out among 15

students and the final questionnaire was

accordingly modified to take on board the

suggestions and remarks made by the

respondents. Stratified sampling was used to

ensure that both female and male students

from all major courses offered at the

university, participated in the survey. Two

hundred and thirty questionnaires were

distributed to students following courses in

Finance, Management, Education, Humanities

and IT. Focus group discussions were held

with 3 groups of 5-6 learners over

approximately one hour. Focus group

research is “a way of collecting qualitative

data, which—essentially— involves engaging

a small number of people in an informal

group discussion (or discussions), ‘focused’

around a particular topic or set of issues” [20,

p.177]. Such group interaction can be

productive in widening the range of

responses, activating forgotten details of

experience, and releasing inhibitions that may

otherwise discourage participants from

disclosing information [21]. Focus groups

produce data rich in detail that are difficult to

achieve with other research methods. So using

semi structured questions, more in-depth

information were sought on the aspects

mentioned above. Data collected were then

recorded and analysed using statistical tools

like SPSS 21.0 and Excel 2010. Various

analyses, like Mann Whitney U and Kruskal

Wallis tests were carried out to investigate

any correlation between the items of the

questionnaire. The major findings of the

group discussions were also compiled to

support, where appropriate, those derived

from analysis of the questionnaires.

4.0 DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Descriptive Analysis


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Hundred and fifty participants studying at the

Open University successfully completed the

questionnaires. The majority of them were

female learners (68.7%). Most of the

participants (93.3%) were below 45 years,

with around two thirds in the 19-35 age

group. Many learners were already graduates

(68.7%), and were currently working full-time

(96.4%). They were studying to upgrade their

qualifications for professional development.

Data collected revealed that 98% of learners

rated their ICT skills as excellent or average.

Most of the participants (80.1%) stated that

their job required mastery of computer skills.

The respondents therefore demonstrated a

high technological profile, with nearly all of

them having access to the Internet. In fact

most of OU learners (71%) were using the

computer daily for more than one hour.

4.2 Computer-related Activities

The first section of the questionnaire sought

to investigate the popular computer-related

activities performed by the respondents. The

high Cronbach Alpha value of 0.743

validated the reliability of the items

measuring the construct of computer usage.

Respondents were regular users of

technology, and among the most common

activities were learning, online

communication, Internet search, office work

and entertainment (Figure 1).

Finding 1: Computer usage was very high

among ODL learners. Using technology for

learning purposes was reported by 97% of

respondents, hence confirming that

technology has already paved its way in the

learning process of the large majority as

reported in numerous studies [2], [3], [4], [5].

Figure 1: Use of Computer/Laptop/Tablets

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Learning purposes

Searching general information

Communication (Email/Chat/Facebook/Twitter

etc.)

Work (Office) purposes

Entertainment (Music/Video)

Online services (e.g e-banking, tax return, online

applications)

Online shopping

Frequent use Moderate use (1-3 times/week) Never


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A Mann Whitney U test was carried out to

investigate if there was gender bias in the

practice of various computer-based activities

and analysis revealed p values higher than

0.05 for all the items, except for “searching

general information” where female were

more frequent users (U=2046, p=0.04).

4.3 Specific Use of Tablets

The second section of the questionnaire

investigated the specific use of tablets by

learners. The items of this section were very

reliable with a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.9,

hence confirming that all items reliably

measured the construct of tablet usage. Figure

2 shows that the most common use of tablets

was for studying the course materials (81%),

with a more restricted number using them for

assignments purposes (42%). The use of OU

tablets for learning-related Internet search was

reported by 57% of the learners, and around

43% for communication with tutors and peers.

This result aligns with a previous study

carried out by Shuler et al. [22] where they

found that the ease of accessing emails and

messaging on a mobile device enhanced

communication between tutors and learners.

Finding 2: Tablets provided by OU were

significantly being used by OU learners for

learning purposes. This is a positive outcome

of the University’s policy to introduce the free

distribution of this tool to its students. This

finding is in line with the comments of

Traxler [6] which posits that mobile learning

is now a grounded concept in learning.

A Mann Whitney U test yielded p values

greater than 0.05 for all the items, showing

that gender was not an issue in the extent of

use of tablets.

In order to investigate if age group had any

influence on the extent of use of tablets, a

Kruskal Wallis test was carried out and it

revealed that this was not the case - all p

values being greater than 0.05.

Figure 2: Extent of tablet use by OU learners

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Studying course materials

Downloading learning materials

Downloading general materials

Doing assignments

Submitting assignments online

For online social networking (Facebook, Twitter…

Communicating with tutors and peers

Entertainment (Music/Video/Games)

Frequent use Moderate use (1-3 times/week) Never


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4.4 Beliefs and Attitude Regarding ICT

as a Learning Tool.

The items of the third section of the

questionnaire, which sought the beliefs and

attitudes of learners regarding technology use

for learning purposes were reliable with a

Cronbach Alpha value of 0.64 when two of

them were excluded from the computation.

Figure 3 shows that learners had a high

opinion of technology as a learning tool. The

most preferred concept (95%) was that ICT

offers flexibility for learning (anytime,

anywhere). They opined that ICT makes

course materials easier to assimilate (90%),

namely because it presents the materials

through different media; like graphics,

colourful texts, video clips and animations.

They found ICT appropriate tools for doing

assignments (92%) and believed that tutors

should use them to facilitate learning (85%).

One important implication of technology use

is the need to read on a computer screen. This

aspect was investigated in this section and

surprisingly only 30% of learners preferred

the computer screen to reading on paper

(Figure 4). This information was largely

confirmed in one of the focus group

discussions.

Figure 3: Beliefs and attitude regarding the use of technology for learning

Figure 4: Computer screen better than paper

Finding 3: ODL learners at OU demonstrated

a strong belief of the pedagogical worth of

ICT in the learning process with more than

70% agreeing to all seven items. They valued

the flexibility offered by tablets for anytime,

anywhere learning. Moreover the Kruskal

Wallis test revealed that age did not

significantly influence responses for most of

the items from respondents regarding beliefs

and attitude. However, the Mann Whitney test

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

ICT makes learning flexible (anywhere,…

ICT useful for assignments.

Course materials easier to study.

Multimedia facilitate learning

Tutors should use ICT facilities.

ICT provide feedback.

ICT can help obtain better grades

Agree Uncertain Disagree

30%

24.7 %

45.3%



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showed that female learners were more in

favour of such beliefs like “Media content

makes learning easier”, (U= 2126, p=0.026)

and “ICT is useful for assignment purposes”,

(U= 2099, p=0.06).

4.5 Barriers to the Effective Use of

Technology for Learning

The last section of the questionnaire

investigated the barriers to the effective use of

technology. With a Cronbach Alpha value of

0.616, the items were found reliable to

measure this construct, when one of them was

removed. Learners were a large majority to

concur on the different barriers, which

included frequent breakdowns (90%), short

battery life (87.3%), lack of tablet printing

facilities (86.7%), small screen size (79.3%)

and slow processing power (69%). The issue

of lack of printing facilities was also reported

in a research by Johansson, as cited in [8]. As

regards the screen size Shuler et al. [22]

mentioned the smallness of tablet screen as a

“limiting factor that can pose challenge to

mobile learning”. Nearly 79% said they

preferred the PC/laptop to tablets for learning

purposes.

Finding 4: Although in section two, we

noted a satisfactory use of tablets for learning,

yet a large number of respondents enumerated

the various obstacles standing in the way to

the effective utilisation of tablets in the

learning process.

Figure 5: Barriers to the effective use of tablets

4.6 Comparing Tablet Usage with Other

Computing Devices.

Given the high technological profile of the

respondents and the strong lean towards using

technology for various activities, this section

of the analysis sought to compare tablets

usage with other computing devices like the

personal computer, laptop or smart phone.

Where percentage of users was high, we did

highlight the difference between frequent and

moderate use.

Figure 6 shows that although more than 80%

of respondents used technology for activities

like communication, Internet search and

entertainment, yet a much lower percentage

used the tablet for these activities. A large

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Frequent technical break-downs.

Short battery life.

Lack of tablet direct printing facilities

Breakdowns cause data lost.

The tablet screen is too small.

PCs/ laptops are more convenient.

Tablets are too slow.

Software incompatibility.

Difficult to transfer files



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number of learners (70%) frequently used a

computing device for communication

purposes, but very few of them (10%) used

OU tablets frequently for communicating with

tutors and peers. To another item of the

questionnaire 84.7% of them agreed that

lecturers should use ICT facilities for

teaching.

Regarding Internet search once again, learners

had a greater preference for personal

computers and laptops. Although 92% of

respondents believed that computing devices

are appropriate tools for doing assignment,

yet only 42.6% revealed doing so on their

tablet, confirming that the tablet was not the

preferred tool for this type of activities.

More than 80% of the respondents reported

using the tablet for learning, which met OU

objectives of providing free tablets to its

learners. But once again PCs and laptops were

more frequently used than tablets.

A more detailed analysis was carried out for

the 18.7% of respondents who reported not

using OU tablets for studying course

materials. It revealed that these students were

neither using the tablet for other activities like

doing assignments, downloading learning

materials, communicating or for

entertainment. However these learners rated

their ICT skills as average or excellent, and

88 % of them confirmed using their laptops

and computers frequently for learning.

Figure 6: Technology-related activities

Finding 5: The large majority of learners

reported frequent or moderate use of

computing devices for different activities like

learning, communication, Internet search and

entertainment but the tablet was not the

preferred choice. Regarding learning many

users mentioned using the tablet, but other

computing devices were used more

frequently.

4.7 Group Discussions

As a source of triangulation, focus group

discussions were also carried out to collect

additional data from three groups of learners.

The discussions proved very informative and

confirmed many of the findings revealed so

far. They also brought in some clarification,

deeper insights and additional details to some

of the previous findings:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Communication Learning Internet search Entertainment

Any computing device

Tablet only


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The first group, comprising IT students, was

initially very apprehensive of the quality and

performance of the tablets. Some common

comments included:

“We do not use it at all; the small screen

freezes too often”

“The battery lasts only for a few minutes after

long hours of charging”

“They are very slow and the touch screen

sensitivity is very poor”

“They are no good for programming, being

incompatible with all programming software”

“We use mostly our PCs or laptops”

However, the participants expressed high

beliefs in the use of technology including

tablets for learning purposes. They purported

that better quality tablets like iPads would

certainly make a difference.

When more in-depth information was sought

from the learners, they finally confessed that

tablets are very convenient for revision

purposes and to access the course materials

especially when “on the go”. All reading

materials in PDF formats were most welcome

for this endeavour. However, further

discussions revealed that they would have

preferred an interactive content to plain text,

with pop-up windows, graphics, 3D

animations and short video clips. Most of the

students expressed their preference for

Facebook as a one-stop-shop, where they

coordinated all their activities, like listening

to music, chatting and communicating with

peers about the course requirements.

Facebook was more commonly used than the

University’s official online platform Moodle

for all communication purposes.

The second group comprising MBA and BSc

Management students were not regular users

of OU tablets, pointing once again to the poor

quality of the tablets, especially their short

battery life and low processing power. Where

available they used mostly the provided

printed learning materials. They did

acknowledge though that tablets did come in

useful/handy to access the learning materials

while they were travelling by bus, saving

them the pain of carrying the numerous

textbooks. They voiced their preference for

PCs/laptops when doing and submitting

assignments. One interviewee explained how

tablets can be practical in cases of power cuts

at night, when printed materials cannot be

used. When questioned about the ease of

using tablets, discussants expressed the wish

to be provided with printed instructional

manuals on how to use the device especially

for those who could not even get started with

it. When prompted about the use of

technology during tutorials, they confirmed

that many learners brought their own laptop

or tablet.

The third group comprised students doing

their Masters in International and

Comparative education. Most of their

comments and suggestions were practically

along the same line as the other two groups.

They were eager to maximize on the

potentiality of technology to improve their

learning. However, they were often put off

by the technical limitations of the tablet which

some found only useful for accessing learning

content while travelling.

In a nutshell, the group discussions confirmed

that technology is a familiar tool and well

poised to become a revolutionary factor in our

fast evolving digital learning society. While

learners are enthusiastic about the integration

of ICT in their learning journey, they are

neither prepared to trade quality and

performance for cheap equipment nor willing

to accept poor instructionally designed

learning content and plain digitized text. The

outcome of the group discussions thus

corroborate to a large extent with the findings

revealed by the questionnaires.


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5.0 CONCLUSIONS

The prime finding of this study rests with the

positive perception that ODL learners hold

about the pedagogical worth of technology,

including tablets, in facilitating the learning

process [23]. This belief is possibly related to

the already high usage of technology in the

learner’s daily life, including office work. A

relatively significant percentage of learners

make moderate or frequent use of tablets for

learning purposes, including download of

supplementary learning materials from the

Internet and doing assignments. The

frequency of use would probably have been

higher if the different obstacles to the

effective use of tablets could have been

resolved. Frequent technical breakdowns,

short battery life, lack of tablet printing

facilities and small screen size were among

the greatest culprits pinpointed by the

respondents.

Following various analyses, it was found that

responses in general were not gender biased,

be it for various computer-based activities,

beliefs and attitudes towards technology as a

learning tool or extent of use of tablets, where

both sexes expressed more or less similar

opinions. Students also voiced for better tablet

quality which would certainly have cost

repercussions; but cost which can be offset by

the ultimate learning gain. Of the many

attributes of tablets, respondents highlighted

the “on the move” factor that probably

matches most the flexibility mode of ODL.

Because of the nature of their busyness,

learners enjoyed the possibility to access their

learning content on a single, handy, light tool

[8] anywhere and anytime. This preference

for the tablet would certainly gather more

adherents, if only functionalities like

durability, reliability and processing power

could be reviewed for these devices. The

overarching truth of this research is that ODL

learners in Mauritius are well poised to

embrace technology and more precisely

powerful tablets in their learning.

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

The findings of this research paper should

help fuel the debate on the distribution of free

tablets to learners. Once again, we see

technology coming a long way to transform

the learning environment. However, we are

certainly still far from maximising on the

affordances of technology to advance the

learning agenda. As Kaganer et al. [24]

rightly suggests, success with mobile-learning

initiatives requires a close fit between course

design and the mobile functionality being

offered so that the benefits of multimedia can

transform learning content into formats which

will make them easier to understand,

assimilate and process. Mobile learning

initiatives should be viewed as long term;

expected benefits may not come quickly, and

management must guide and support learners

through the process of evolving their

practices. This research study confirms this

statement which compels us to depart from

the illusion that technology provision

automatically leads to knowledge acquisition.

On one hand learners are asking for better

quality and hence more expensive tablets,

while on the other hand there is a need to

provide tablets to a maximum number of

learners, which might imply lower quality

tablets. Should we provide more students with

tablets of inferior quality or less students but

with tablets of superior quality? Striking the

right balance is not an easy game. ODL

learners are willing to embrace mobile

learning technologies in their learning, be it

smartphones or tablets; however, they do not

want to be put off by the poor features of low

quality tablets. The focus group discussions

revealed that those who had better quality

tablets demonstrated higher frequency usage

of the device. It is therefore imperative that


ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 ©2015 SDIWC 45

proper technical specifications of tablets are

spelt out by the IT department before

purchases are done.

The critics can be many, and rightfully

justified but the good side of the coin

indicates that a journey in technology

integration has been undertaken and now it is

important to map the route properly to ensure

we come close enough to those same learning

outcomes that initially triggered the

implementation of these technology-based

projects. Policy makers and educationalists

must combine efforts and capital to forge the

ideal learning conditions for an emerging

digital learning society.

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Documents

Assessing Tablets' Adoption by ODL Learners: A Mauritian Case Study